Things I liked and things I hated: Preseason Week Two

Things I liked:

- Turner, quietly, appears to be working back into 2015 form. He had a strong second half of 2017, and he's looked really good this summer. This is good.


- A professional offense. I think it was Bull Moose that pointed out the improvement in play action. I agree. So often under Shula, we ran these elongated fakes out of pistol that fooled nobody. It's really nice to see some stuff under center. It's hard to be a consistently good play action team out of shotgun or pistol. The loaded pistol formations of Shula were often useful in the redzone, and I hope Norv keeps some of that in tact, but far too often, we ran gimmick college shit in situations where it made no sense to do so.


- McCaffrey. Jesus.


- The defense did a great job on 3rd down, sudden change, redzone, and limiting explosive plays. That's a winning recipe. Miami massaged us with some short passes, but I'll live with that.


- Defensive line penetration was A+. I hope nobody gets sued for alienation of affection.

- Barner becoming a useful NFL player is a stunner to me, but I'm happy about it.


- Heinicke looked good in his promotion. I like the arm and mobility. Maybe we have a backup.


- Moton looks decent, two games in a row.


- Ian Thomas is better than Ed Dickson. Turner is better than Shula. This is an exciting formula.


- Shaq Thompson motherfucks.

- I'm a uniform geek. I realize everyone isn't. The blue jersey white pant blue sock combo is 10/10. I think it's the blue socks, honestly. I hope we do it again.


- Armah's development. I was skeptical, but he looks like an asset as the Lo Neal of BDN's offense.


Things I hated:

- Cam shouldn't be throwing rookie interceptions in year 8. No excuse for that.


- Tepper Idol Worship. Did we learn nothing from Gettleman? You can't trust a big butt and a smile. He's owned the team for like two months, gang.

- I honestly don't know if Jourdan Rodrigue is good or bad at her job, because I don't read the papers anymore. She might be outstanding for all I know. But the Brendon Mahen thing typifies everything I dislike about the current state of journalism. Arbitrarily picking a 3rd stringer and writing "you have a feeling" is not really reporting, it's vague opinion. I was at the practices and watched Mahon consistently get his ass whipped. It's just like how Steve Reed pumped up Garrett Gilbert for no rational reason. This is lazy journalism. And like I said, she might be GREAT at everything else, for all I know. But the Mahon shit was always dumb.



- Matt Kalil


- I'm going to go out on a limb and say there will be one onsides recovery in 2018. Some kicker will pull off a crazy backspin trick. I hate this. These are grown men who are assuming the risks. This changes the entire complexion of a 24-14 type game. Why in the hell, as a viewer who values his time, would I keep watching?


- Horton, who I do like, looked bad in full time duty. I like Haynes but he's not a full timer. The DE depth chart is a concern if Addison or Peppers miss extended time.


- Vernon Butler has zero pass rushing skill. In a league that's approximately 60% pass, I'm not sure how you give that guy a first round grade. Sprinkle might be better, honestly.



- I feel a regression to the norm coming with Gano, which isn't surprising. Panthers fans need to remember that we had an open competition for kicker 12 months ago.

 

Stellar recap.

Yes, the Bull Moose did see a marked improvement in play action. Play design, at first glance, has more consistency. Shula’s concepts were a mess, and his instincts as play caller were atrocious. I know Gruden used to rave about Mike Shula‘s run playbook, but they were countless snaps last year where 22 was used improperly—under the guise of deception. It was maddening.

Anyway, it’s a pro offense and it’s been a minute since we’ve incorporated that here. CMC is going to post Roger Craig numbers if he stays healthy.

 

I get the excitement about something new. You gotta remember, a good many of these fans have no memory of the 2003 Panthers, much less the entire 23 year narrative. I think we could’ve done a lot worse, but let’s not pretend this was an ideal transaction.

It’s that whole timing deal in life — Never follow the revered, and always follow the disgraced. Tepper’s timing, per usual, was extraordinarily fortuitous.

Win games. Do that.

 

https://giphy.com/gifs/work-working-office-life-vBGL0xnP5tjuE

 

"Panthers left tackle Matt Kalil worked inside for an injury/vet day, coach Ron Rivera said. Rivera would not elaborate on the injury, but did say it is not something he would anticipate is long-term. "We're just trying to take care of him, give him a little rest,'' Rivera said."

Its called the can`t play dead in a western limp.

 

What's a reasonable recovery timeline for anal surgery?

 

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